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Middle East and North Africa

Hassan will discuss ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, which traces how the organization evolved from a nearly defeated Iraqi insurgent faction into a jihadi army of local and foreign volunteers who control a territory equal to the size of Great Britain. The book also delves into how ISIS recruits, governs, and guards itself from potential bottom-up rebellions. It is the first book since ISIS’s recent rise to include original interviews with U.S. officials and ISIS members. more

What can the past tell us about the likely outcome of current bargaining with Iran over its nuclear program? With negotiations ongoing, we spoke with Israeli scholar, Ori Rabinowitz, about the historical context for such dealings. She provides insights from past nuclear negotiations and how they might inform the current talks. Her book on the subject is titled, “Bargaining on Nuclear Tests: Washington and its Cold War Deals.” That’s the focus of this edition of Wilson Center NOW. more

What can the past tell us about the likely outcome of current bargaining with Iran over its nuclear program? With negotiations ongoing, we spoke with Israeli scholar, Ori Rabinowitz, about the historical context for such dealings. She provides insights from past nuclear negotiations and how they might inform the current talks. Her book on the subject is titled, “Bargaining on Nuclear Tests: Washington and its Cold War Deals.” That’s the focus of this edition of Wilson Center NOW.

"The world confronts a radicalized version and vision of Islam that requires a military and political approach. This isn’t something that Washington can fix quickly or comprehensively. First and foremost, the Arab states and the Muslim world must own up to the radical extremists in their midst," writes Aaron David Miller.

Hassan will discuss ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, which traces how the organization evolved from a nearly defeated Iraqi insurgent faction into a jihadi army of local and foreign volunteers who control a territory equal to the size of Great Britain. The book also delves into how ISIS recruits, governs, and guards itself from potential bottom-up rebellions. It is the first book since ISIS’s recent rise to include original interviews with U.S. officials and ISIS members.

For the first time in his Administration, President Barack Obama has submitted to Congress a formal request for additional authority to use military force. Is his draft Authorization for Use of Military Force against ISIL “alarmingly broad,” as The New York Times worries, or a narrow set of handcuffs? Does it empower the Presidency or create—as Senator John McCain put it—“535 Commanders-in-Chief”? From different angles, many ask: Does the proposed AUMF reflect sound law and sound strategy?

Galia Golan will discuss the upcoming March 17 Israeli elections and reflect on her latest book Israeli Peacemaking Since 1967: Factors Behind the Breakthroughs and Failures. Examining the Israeli-Arab conflict as an "intractable conflict," the book seeks to determine just which factors, or combination of factors, impacted on Israel's position in past peace-making efforts, possibly accounting for breakthroughs or failures to reach agreement.

Ottaway writes that ISIS has at least three components: ISIS as a proto-state, ISIS as part of an Islamist network, and ISIS as a state of mind. These different aspects of ISIS cannot be fought with the same means, and policies that might help against one of these components may make attempts to combat the others more difficult.

The onset of the Algerian War of Independence in November 1954 was an important development in the international history of the Cold War. Coming as it did on the heels of the end of the First Indochinese War, the Algerian conflict further emboldened national liberation forces throughout the colonial and semi-colonial world, a region of increasing importance to policymakers in Washington and Moscow. Pierre Asselin introduces documents from the Algerian National Archives on socialist bloc support for Algerian National Liberation Front.

After peaceful legislative and presidential elections in Tunisia toward the end of 2014, which were lauded on both the national and international levels, the attempt to form a new government reveals the tensions among the various political forces and the difficulties of constructing a democratic system in the country that was the birthplace of the "Arab Spring."

What can the past tell us about the likely outcome of current bargaining with Iran over its nuclear program? With negotiations ongoing, we spoke with Israeli scholar, Ori Rabinowitz, about the historical context for such dealings. She provides insights from past nuclear negotiations and how they might inform the current talks. Her book on the subject is titled, “Bargaining on Nuclear Tests: Washington and its Cold War Deals.” That’s the focus of this edition of Wilson Center NOW.

In a region already known for volatility, the Middle East continues to encounter new levels of crisis as conflicts rage in a number of countries. According to a panel of regional experts, “crisis” will continue to be the order of the day in 2015. Their observations on what’s been happening and what to expect in the coming months is the focus of this edition of REWIND.

Every year there are major events around the world that fly under the mainstream media’s radar despite their seminal impact. Four Wilson Center scholars who are also leading journalists from some of the world’s largest media organizations tell us what they consider to be the most underreported news stories of 2014.

Historian, analyst, negotiator, and former advisor to Republican and Democratic Secretaries of State on Arab-Israeli negotiations, 1978-2003.

Aaron David Miller is currently the Vice President for New Initiatives and a Distinguished Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Between 2006 and 2008, he was a Public Policy Scholar when he wrote his fourth book The Much Too Promised Land: America's Elusive Search for...

Abbas Sibai is from Beirut Lebanon, part of Leaders of Democracy Fellows Program at Maxwell School, Syracuse University NY. He is passionate about creating new initiatives related to active youth participation, environment and health issues. Lately he developed "Live Love Beirut" a crowd s...